MoparFins

December 13, 2017, 09:31:17 PM

Welcome, Guest

IMPORTANT: When we changed forum software, ALL passwords were lost! So please use the Forgot your password feature. If your email address has changed, use the Allpar "news tips" form to tell Dave about it and he will take care of you. We apologize for the inconvenience. (Your avatar may also have been lost but we hope not.

AuthorTopic: Fix or sell. (Read 1086 times)

So I have a slight issue. Do I fix me neon or sell it? ?. The car has roughly 200k miles, the needs list is as follows: four new tires, front brakes (pads & rotors), rear brakes (shoes &hardware), front and rear struts, harmonic balancer (the one rockauto sent me when I did the head is too big for power steering), clutch and mucho rusto. What do you guys think??I love the car but I need to be sensible as well.

James, if it were me I wouldn't put that kind of money into a rust bucket, plus a rusty car gets to the point of actually becoming unsafe, especially a unit-body car with no frame like a Neon. I try to find a really solid car that has some minor problems if the price needs to be kept down. Best of all is if you know someone in the SW part of the country and can get one there, or get a car that came from there... I paid 800 for a virtually rust free '64 Dodge off Craigslist in Denver Colorado, cost 1000 to transport to NY, total cost: 1800. One could do the same with a newer, more efficient car, whatever kind of car you are looking for. It'd be a car worth upgrading over time, since you'd have a solid platform to start with. Look around for the cleanest body car you can get there in WI or wherever, maybe you can get one from an elderly snow-bird who goes to AZ or FL in the winter. Look for the right car, you want your family to be safe. Mechanical work is cheaper and easier than body work, especially if you can do some of it yourself.

Good advice. If rust wasn't an underlying issue to parts replacement it would be a different story. All the years working on cars, a rust-free body is by far the most important issue when considering any purchase or repair. Like they say, a solid foundation is the most important part of any project.

James, if it were me I wouldn't put that kind of money into a rust bucket, plus a rusty car gets to the point of actually becoming unsafe, especially a unit-body car with no frame like a Neon. I try to find a really solid car that has some minor problems if the price needs to be kept down. Best of all is if you know someone in the SW part of the country and can get one there, or get a car that came from there... I paid 800 for a virtually rust free '64 Dodge off Craigslist in Denver Colorado, cost 1000 to transport to NY, total cost: 1800. One could do the same with a newer, more efficient car, whatever kind of car you are looking for. It'd be a car worth upgrading over time, since you'd have a solid platform to start with. Look around for the cleanest body car you can get there in WI or wherever, maybe you can get one from an elderly snow-bird who goes to AZ or FL in the winter. Look for the right car, you want your family to be safe. Mechanical work is cheaper and easier than body work, especially if you can do some of it yourself.